Can a social enterprise have the breakthrough success of a Facebook or Twitter? Perhaps if they start emulating some of these characteristics of the most successful tech companies.

After nonprofit work in East Africa, and an MBA from Oxford University’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, I was not the most likely person to land at a small startup called Twitter in 2009. But that’s exactly what happened.

1: TAKE RISKS

Continuing to take risks is essential to the success of any good social entrepreneur, and most credit their greatest successes to such risks. After all, big risks can reap big rewards. What starts in your garage can become bigger than you ever imagined–and not just for Steve Jobs. In 2009, Nanoice, a social enterprise transforming the sustainability of food preservation, started in the Seattle-area garage of founder Craig Rominger. Three years later, they boast 16,000 square feet of manufacturing space, and a host of accolades to boot.